With SXSW currently underway, there is a giddiness in the air about the newest toys in technology. This excitement does not stop with the latest new gadget in the show, but also in new applications of technology in the medical field. The stethoscope is becoming obsolete, as vital signs can now be monitored and sent to a smart phones via a special band-aid. With this feature you can check more than just your email on your phone, rather you can check your blood pressure, cardiac rhythms, respiration rate, sleep patterns, and more. This wireless technology is helping free up more hospital beds, is keeping people safer, and becoming as easy as an application you simply download on your phone.

Looking for new creative ideas or expert insight for the future of your event planning company? Well, look no further, the annual 2010 Event Solutions Conference & Trade-show will be hosted in Las Vegas with an estimated 5,000 attendees and more than 800 exhibit booths. The event is happening at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Paris Hotel during March 8-11, 2010.  Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman will discuss some of the current and upcoming trends in the travel, hospitality, and events industry.  Straying away from the Las Vegas reputation of the adult film industry, gadget geeks, and all the other characters that help hold true to the motto, “what happens in vegas, stays in vegas.” The city has been hit devastatingly by the current economic status, and all efforts are being made to turn around the city to get it back on its feet. The Mayor will be advocating the endless possibilities the city has for future events as well as the positive lights the city has.  With several other big names in the industry speaking about budgeting for your company, selecting a site, RFP’s, food & beverage, audio/visual technologies, and design & décor.

Over the course of the three day event, there are major event planners attending, speaking, and joining in on the new ideas to be spread around.  With several different seminars, meets and greets, and event boot camps to attend, everyone is guaranteed to walk away with new tips, ideas, and confidence for their business. Whether you are entering the business, have several years under your belt, or an old expert, everyone can learn something from this three day event. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re available, and if you’re serious about expanding your knowledge of the business from the experts!

Love watching reruns of Sex and the City, Entourage, Big Love, or Weeds–just to name a few? HBO is joining Comcast’s OnDemand Online Trial this summer enabling one to watch the channel’s epic movies and current TV shows online.  Comcast has agreed to take on this new website under its name because they want the company’s high-profile consumers, on the other hand, HBO wants the availability of Comcast’s consumers list to test out their new creation.

750 hours of content will be available provided by both networks, on Comcast.com and Fancast.com.  The website is said to include full-length episodes of current and classic television shows, movies, theatrical movies, and HBO Family programs.  Sounds like a steal? Well, don’t get too ahead of yourself, you have to already be a subscriber of HBO  or Cinemax through Comcast in order to gain access online.  But on the other hand, if you already are a paying customer of either of these three companies, there will be no additional fee for having onilne access. Will you still watch these shows unlimited on your computer when the website is up and running?  Or will you continue to relay on Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, or Epix? Do you think you will subscribe to HBO just for this access, or should it be more available to general public?

Are you a senior at Facebook, but maybe a freshman at Twitter? Well, now there are two new social networking sites you’re going to want to log into:  Foursquare and Gowalla. It may sound like the games you used to play on the playground in elementary school, and…an energy bar or drink? But no, they are the two newest and trendiest websites to keep in touch with friends, tell your plans of your day, and keep track of others’ whereabouts.

Both sites were created in late 2008, but didn’t make it under the popular eye until 2009.  By March 2009, Foursquare stole the show, drowning out any fanfare that the then-buggy Gowalla tried to muster. But now the challenge has risen; nine months later and millions of dollars poured into getting Gowalla up into space, CEO and found Josh Willams, explains that there are well over 20,000 people logging into the site each day in over 1,000 different locations around the world.

So what’s really the difference between the two sites? Both have iPhone applications available, but have thousands of users logged in and many more joining the site, as well as millions of dollars behind them for funding to succeed.  But it depends on who you talk to, one will favor the other. Many claim the combo of Twitter, Yelp, Google Latitude, with a mix of social gaming and some privacy procedures gives you Foursquare; ecstatically declared, “next year’s Twitter.”  On the other hand, Gowalla is quickly creeping into the spot light and socially around the world. The widely expressed criticism with Gowalla is that it focuses on you more then what your friends are doing/interested in.  Part of joining Gowalla is to name your exact whereabouts and tell all your friends as soon as you login; surrendering your privacy.  The reason Gowalla demands this from you is because the information is crowd-sourced, which allows the app to quickly track in certain locations around the globe; giving the website more recognition for more users to join.

Many would say Gowalla trumps Foursquare in the lay-out of the website and accessibility, but Foursquare wins the race in terms of check-in location accuracy, tech support, supervising friends without stocking, and many other desirable and user friendly features. Regardless of which way you look at them, both are making strong efforts to get onto your smartphone for 2010. We are living in a world where you can get out of work and log into a site to find out where your friends are. Is this how socializing is going to be in the future? Edging out phone calls and texting only to keep technology booming and let personal connections plummet?  And in the competition between Gowalla and Foursquare, who gets your vote?

Just how many of us have a Facebook account in the world? To even think about it you know the number is going to be astronomical; the question is “who doesn’t have a Facebook account?”  By December 2009, Facebook single handedly attracted 469 million visitors, putting them at the No.4 most viewed website in the world.  Sound like just a number to you?  More than 31 million people signed onto Facebook in December 2009 then in November – Yahoo had 31 million viewers in the entire year of 2009.  That’s right, Facebook had that many hits in just thirty-one days.  The social networking site is quickly climbing the ladder to becoming the third largest Web property in the world (booting out Yahoo as number three, and closely behind Google (No.1) and Microsoft (No. 2)).

All in all, Facebook has grown by almost 250 million viewers in 2009.  If Facebook continues to attract this number of people, it will surely pass Yahoo as the third most viewed website in the world by the end of 2010.  But how many viewers does it need to take on the No.2 and No.1 websites? To pass Microsoft, Facebook would need well over 727 million hits worldwide, and Google of 899 million viewers, which may take more time then the 11 months left to 2010.

On the other hand, Facebook surpasses both Yahoo and Microsoft in many other aspects.  For example, Facebook’s page views grew an estimated 141% last year to 193 billion in December, Yahoo only received 100 billion while Microsoft pulled in 109 billion.  Although Facebook passed these two head honchos, Google still holds the top spot for 274 billion a month. When all’s said and done, Facebook is making exceptional growth in today’s market of most viewed websites. So keep checking out your friends, updating your status and pictures, and let’s move Facebook to the number three spot!